Rejoice, Football Fans: Notre Dame May Be Coming To The Texas Bowl

The eyes of millions of Houstonians were glued to ESPN last night, to see if there was a chance they would be uniquely blessed.

Sure, hundreds of thousands were just Rutgers fans, but.....okay, maybe a dozen were Rutgers fans. And maybe only a dozen more were watching the game, especially after the Scarlet Knights (that's Rutgers, btw) went up 49-0 at the half.

But Rutgers' win may mean a Very Big Thing: Notre Dame is coming to Houston to play a football game.

We'll give all you UT fans a chance to catch your breath, excited as you no doubt are to see a football team with a great tradition.

Oh, we can hear it now: Some grumblers muttering darkly about how the Irish are only 6-6, and were 3-9 last year. Think "Mackovic Era," Longhorn fans.

As far as we can remember, ND has never played in Houston, but now there's a very good chance they'll come here to play (and, let's be honest, quite possibly lose to) Rice in the Texas Bowl.

Local Irish fans will take what they can get.

Houston does play a nice part in ND lore, of course. The UH Cougars were the opponent when a frozen Joe Montana, only partially thawed out by a quick bowl of chicken soup in the locker room, led an amazing last-second comeback in one of the best Cotton Bowls ever.

The first two Texas Bowls (one featuring Rutgers!) were actually pretty entertaining events. Let's hope this one is too.